Great Christmas, tons of pictures

We had such a great Christmas again. We are truly a blessed and loved family. We missed being with everyone, but we did enjoy being together on a special day. Here is the play by play: Merry Christmas from the Stewart Family

Our Christmas Eve pie. Chocolate Peppermint pie. Yummy.

Zach built Aynslee this awsome toy chest / chair for her room. He did such a great job. I only asked him to make it square, and he did all this decoration. You can tell he really loves his baby girl.

I made the seat cushion and pillows so she could play on it.

This is the "Santa room" this is what they got from Santa. I think they did pretty well.

This is what they got from us and grandparents. We are spoiled.

Ayns thinks she got this big wheels. Shade and Ayns fought over it the whole day.

Jax practicing on his new bike.

My new coat that I love. Thanks Santa!!

Shade trying out his new big wheels. His legs are still a little short. We will have to rig up something to make it work.

Aynslee modeling her "princess outfit".

Eating Caramel French Toast after opening the presents. This stuff was AMAZING. This is our new Christmas tradition.

The aftermath

Sleeping in their new sleeping bags. They were pretty worn out from the whole day.

Thanks Mema and Papa for these awsome boots. The kids look so cute in them.!!!!

Thanks again to everyone who spoiled us. We got so many great things and we love you all. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and know that we thought of you during the day.

Best Buddies

Now that Jackson is in school all day, Shade has finally decided that Aynslee will do. He just told me that Ayns is his best buddy. I am so glad. They would both wander around the house not really knowing what to do without Jax. We still miss Jax when he is gone, but I am glad these two have found each other. Best Buddies

Cheese

This girl is a climber. She will climb on anything she can.

Crazy times

A lot has been going on in the Stewart house. Zach's mom and dad came and stayed with us for a week, and we worked the whole time. We worked on spending money, on eating ourselves sick, and checking off items on Zach's TO DO list. We were busy.
Sue and I finished most of our Christmas shopping while the guys cleaned out our garage and organized it. What a change.
Then, Zach and Rich built a mantle for our fire place. It looks so good. I can't believe what a difference it makes.
Sue and I painted the kids bathroom just for fun, and we also got our Christmas tree and decorated it and Rich and Sue added a ton of gifts under it. We had such a great week. It is always good to see family and be able to strengthen family bonds. It was a great visit and now we are lost without anyone here. We miss you family!!!

On another note: IT SNOWED HERE YESTERDAY!!!!! I have never been so excited for anything in my life. I looked out the window and saw it snowing and I ran around the house looking for my shoes like I was a little girl, I grabbed the boys and we had to run around and scream and jump on the tramp. It finally made this holiday season feel real. I love the snow. I am a true Idaho girl thru and thru. I love you snow, thank you for visiting even though it was only for a day. Hope to see you soon!!!! Love, Rik This is snow, not dandruff. Can you tell I am excited

Snow in Mississippi

Yay!!

Our tree

Our fireplace. Before

During

After

Rich and Sue displaying the mantle

In the process of painting

The after color. I went with LaFonda Olive in honor of Preston and Napoleon Dynamite

P.S. Jessie don't be mad, I will get pictures of the chair rail up soon. I promise!!!

Look at me!

It has been over a week now, but I thought that Jax loosing his tooth was blog worthy, even if it was late. Jackson's tooth had been loose for about a week when we went out to dinner. During dinner he told me he had something in his tooth and got it out. He went to the bathroom a while later and came back and showed me that it was not something in his tooth that he pulled out, it was his tooth AND HE SWALLOWED IT. That had been his biggest fear. He was so scared that it would fall out while he was sleeping and he would swallow it. He wrote the tooth fairy a very cute letter that said:

Dear Tooth fairy:
I swallowed my tooth.
I drew a picture of you.
Love, Jackson S.

Then he drew the cutest picture of the tooth fairy holding a bag of teeth and also a bag of notes (for all those poor kids who swallowed their teeth). It was so cute. She had a wand and a crown and a frilly dress and the whole thing. I am sure the tooth fairy will be keeping that note forever. He folded the note so it looked little like a tooth (to trick her) and woke up to .50. He was pretty excited. He is now working on the next one and is hoping he won't swallow this one. Our baby is growing up. Even his teeth are telling me that.

What's going on in our lives

Jackson can read!! He is coming home with books to read to us now instead of us reading to him. I can't believe it. It is amazing how much one thing can change a little boy. I found him tucked away in a corner at 6:45 a.m. the other morning reading a book waiting for me to wake up. No more screaming running around the house. The boys a reader!!!! Yay Jax!!
Shade finished his first season of Soccer. He loves it and was actually really good when he was paying attention. We have just found out another of Shade's talents. He is the boy who will tell you how it is. Unfortunately it is things like telling his teacher her hands are old, or a mother at church that she needs to brush her stinky teeth. If any one has any help on teaching a 3 yr old what they should keep to themselves I am dying to know. Let's just say there have been A LOT of apologies lately from the Stewart house.

Here is Aynslee making a mess of her skittles after her staples were taken out. It was just as traumatic as getting them in. She was screaming and I was trying to hold her down and Shade was yelling at the door for someone to let him out. I am so glad that is over. The scar is going to be big, but I hope as she grows it will get smaller. She is starting to say a few words and we are so excited. Her ear piercing scream we hope will be a thing of the past. Who knew a scream like that could come from such a small girl.

Another trip to the 'ol baptist hospital

Poor baby girl had another trip to the ER today. I swear, of all my kids I never thought she would be the one to make so many trips to the ER. Zach is putting together a shed or our backyard, and Aynslee was playing by it and tripped and fell onto a piece of tin and cut her leg right open. I grabbed her and pinched it shut and Zach drove us to the ER. We got in quick, but once again the Baptist Hospital did not fail and left us their for over 2 hours before we were seen. I was reminded once again that this could be what "hell" is like. I found all sorts of nasty things on the floor and was totally disgusted the whole time. The doctor finally came in and told me he wanted to do staples instead. For those of you who know me well knows what my nasty scar on my leg looks like. I showed him my scar and told him he better not make it look like that. He swore to me that it would be better than mine. I am pretty sure he thought I was one of those moms that wanted to make sure my "princess" was still perfect for her beauty pageants. All I wanted was a straight scar that would heal nicely. I guess we will see. She was such a trooper. The only time she cried was when they were deadening it. I cried just has hard as she did. He ended up putting in about 6 staples and told me to get them out in 7 days. I felt so bad for her. I am just glad is was on her leg and not some where worse. It is funny how much it can make you love your kids when something like this happens. I will post the picture of the staples out in 7 days. Wish us luck.

LOTS of pictures, LOTS of fun

HALLOWEEN:

Let me start with the pictures of Halloween. We carved pumpkins the night before, and even though we do it every year, the kids are amazed at what is inside the pumpkins and that we get to cut them up. They loved it. Aynslee just ran around with Shade chasing her, but Jax actually got in a grabbed some seeds. We threw them down pretty quick. It was a fun, cold night. Getting ready to carve

The guts

Done, Daddy and kids

Mommy and kids

The kids showing our display

Then for Halloween the kids dressed up as:

A ninja

A boxer

A poodle skirt girl

I was proud of myself for making this one. It actually fit. I have to brag a little because I don't sew very often, so when I make something that works I am excited.

We went to the base and went trick-or-treating and got a ton of candy. We only went down 2 streets and decided that we had enough to last us until the summer. I used to love Halloween until I became a mom. Now I am not so sure when my kids are running around on a sugar high for the next week straight. I guess it is the look on my kids faces when they are all dressed up and getting candy that makes it worth while.




Then, yesterday was Zach's birthday. Last week Zach scheduled his birthday off from work, so we were so excited to hang out all day, but the poor guy ended up being sick all day. Out of the entire year his birthday was the day he got sick. I think he needs his gallbladder out. We will find out tomorrow. Anyway, we had a little party for him. He got lots of nice cards and gifts from family, and we got him a table saw and a dangerous hunt game for the wii. We ate carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (our favorite) and did spend the day together. Happy birthday Zach.

Blowing out the candles. I won't say how many!!!

Happy birthday!!!

I had to throw this one in because I am still amazed everyday when Aynslee wakes up what her hair can do. Good luck to who ever she marries. Still pretty cute though

Miracle of all miracles

So you are wondering what the miracle is. Well, my mom, dad and grandma Leak came as saw us this past weekend!! It is a huge miracle. This is the first time in seven years my dad has come and stayed with us for longer than 24 hours. It was SO MUCH FUN!! My parents were amazed at the trees, and the red dirt. We went for a drive to see the country and I think they got to see what Mississippi is all about. We were so busy all weekend with church parties, Primary programs, soccer, eating, laughing, and the Wii. My grandma was great at bowling, mom and dad rocked on Rock band, and we all got a little competitive in billiards. The most fun we had was hula hooping during Wii fit. I have to brag and say I am the winner at that. It could be that I have had a little practice. We ate boiled peanuts and drove the boys to school and honestly, just had a great time hanging out. I can't believe that they really came, and I miss them already. I am so thankful that I finally broke my dad and that they made the long trip down here. Thank you mom, dad and grandma for coming and seeing us and the south. We had so much fun and we love you all!!!

Bowling. Go grandma!!!

THE PUMPKIN PATCH

While my parents were here we decided to go the the pumpkin patch and get pumpkins to carve, even though we were so busy we didn't get to carve them while they were here. It is a big farm that they made a bunch of different activities for the kids to do. See what they were up to.

Checking things out

Loving the pumpkins

Playing in the corn

Not sure about the cotton truck

The boys loved the cotton

Overwhelmed by the great pumpkin patch

THE ACTUAL PUMPKIN CARVING STILL TO COME......